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Austin Mckenzie (kenzie316)

My girlfriend and I played patchwork for the first time at the beginning of this summer and quickly fell in love with the game. Especially my girlfriend is a big fan and also plays it a lot on the ipad. When she heard a new Uwe game would be released in Essen with similar mechanics she was very excited and it quickly became her most anticipated game of Essen 2016. When we found out it had a misprint we debated for a bit but bought it anyway based on our love for Patchwork.

We just played our first game tonight and I wanted to share my first impressions of the game. First of all I think the game looks great and its a theme is something I havent seen before so I think thats cool.

We found the gameplay however to be a bit boring and not that challenging. Since you play for al least 4 whole rounds we managed to get all our cubes to the 20 spot and half way the 4th round we just needed to make sure we completed out last two beds just before the end of the game to not lose any points.

We read the rules 3 times to make sure we didn't do anything wrong because it just felt so weird but we could find anything we needed to do different. Was wondering of more people had the same experience?

Had high hopes for the game but for us there was just not enough of a game there..

*turned out that we played the game wrong because we both took tiles on the other players turns also.. Update after playing a second time but now correct is that my opinion did not really change although we were both far from a perfect score

Just finished our first 2-player game, same impression. Were wondering if we missed some tactics? Are there any? I guess with more players it gets even less strategic? Yes, we liked the design well enough, but where is the game? Increasingly felt like "is that all there is?"

Had exactly the same thoughts in my first test play some time ago. But I was noted that we had made some mistakes back then. The gardener starts with a higher number with two player (2 instead of 1) and we played on the four player board that has more fields as it uses the corners as well. In the 1st print run the game board has no explicit side for 1-3 players. But each game should have received a sticker set that can be applied to have a 1-3 player side. After that changes we never reached all cubes into the 20 points area.

I have played today with 3 players and after finishing two Gardener's rounds, we've decided to have lunch and tallied up the points. This was enough time to keep us interested and not stressed by loosing points. We will give it a second chance.

I am really not happy to find this thread here, as it confirms my worries, that there might be something with the game and not with my rules understanding. Yes, I find the rulebook beautiful but not well structured.

Hence I haven't got to the final phase of the game (), I'd like to ask if the third patch of land is any help when you play that long or is rather a millstone around ones neck in the final round?

We found the gameplay however to be a bit boring and not that challenging. Since you play for al least 4 whole rounds we managed to get all our cubes to the 20 spot and half way the 4th round we just needed to make sure we completed out last two beds just before the end of the game to not lose any points.

The rulebook states that a excellent score in the solo game is around 80 points. So if you can achieve a way higher score (all cubes at 20 = 120) in a 2-player game (around the same number of turns). So it seems like you are playing something wrong.

What are you scoring? The visible orange (flower pots) and the blue (plant covers)things on the boards or something else?

- in a two player game you start with the dice at 2, not 1- extra movement points don't carry over to other cubes. For example if your orange cube is one square from the goal and you score 5 flowerpots. You move one space to the goal, the other 4 don't transfer to another cube- you only get to have a maximum of 2 cat tokens- are you using the right side of the board? If playing with 2 or 3 you need to fix the board with the stickers you get with the game

- started with the dice at 2- Only moved one orange and one blue cube per scoring- Never had more then two cats- Had all the stickers in place so played the correct side

I really checked to rulebook 3 times to make sure we were playing correct and could find anything..

I also only had to cover up a pot once so maybe that helped? Well in the end game I did it more but that was because it didnt matter anyway since all cubes were already at the 20 and I wanted to time correctly for the end of the game..

- started with the dice at 2- Only moved one orange and one blue cube per scoring- Never had more then two cats- Had all the stickers in place so played the correct side

I really checked to rulebook 3 times to make sure we were playing correct and could find anything..

I also only had to cover up a pot once so maybe that helped? Well in the end game I did it more but that was because it didnt matter anyway since all cubes were already at the 20 and I wanted to time correctly for the end of the game..

I did not cover any and ended up with 77 pts... not that it is necessary a good strategy, probably not.

Did a little calculation on the side assuming you took only the biggest tiles [5 & 6 spaces worth], it's possible [each round you will get 8 tiles, so it can be up to 48 spaces covered per round, 2 1/2 garden beds]. It just seems improbable you could fit them all perfectly each time.

Also, Michael Wissner video shows much lower scores [closer to what we played]. Have you checked it?

Haha ok so I figured out what we did wrong.. We both chose a tile each round which leads to getting twice as many tiles and also a gamelength of twice as long...

That explains a lot and I will replay it very soon to see if it helps. I don't think it will change my opinion of the game that much though.. I think that there is still nog enough game in it for us but will post an update as soon as we played correct!

I did not cover any and ended up with 77 pts... not that it is necessary a good strategy, probably not.

Did a little calculation on the side assuming you took only the biggest tiles [5 & 6 spaces worth], it's possible [each round you will get 8 tiles, so it can be up to 48 spaces covered per round, 2 1/2 garden beds]. It just seems improbable you could fit them all perfectly each time.

Also, Michael Wissner video shows much lower scores [closer to what we played]. Have you checked it?

Haha ok so I figured out what we did wrong.. We both chose a tile each round which leads to getting twice as many tiles and also a gamelength of twice as long...

That explains a lot and I will replay it very soon to see if it helps. I don't think it will change my opinion of the game that much though.. I think that there is still nog enough game in it for us but will post an update as soon as we played correct!

So we just finished our second game and now with the actual correct rules.

My findings are that the game is still very simple and falls flat for us compared to patchwork. The choices are a bit more interesting finding out what to take now and what will be available for you and your opponent in future turns but you are still essentially doing the same thing over and over again and the feeling of, is this all, remains.

It still looks amazing and maybe it gets better with more players but when I'm with two I will always choose patchwork over this..